Nuclear Issues

108 Items

Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong, China, in 2019.

EDF Energy via Wikimedia Commons

Book Chapter - Cambridge University Press

Enabling a Significant Nuclear Role in China’s Decarbonization

| Dec. 02, 2021

While China is building nuclear reactors faster than any other country in the world, major constraints may limit nuclear energy’s ability to grow to the scale of hundreds of gigawatts that would be required for it to play a major part in decarbonizing China’s energy system. This chapter explores the major constraints on, and risks of, large-scale nuclear energy growth in China, and how both new policies and new technologies might address them. It focuses particularly on the two biggest constraints – economics and siting. Substantial government policies to support nuclear power and advanced reactor systems designed to address some of the key constraints are both likely to be needed for nuclear to have a chance of playing a major role in decarbonizing China’s energy system; nuclear energy’s role may be bigger in the second half of this century than in the first half.

Palgrave Pivot

Palgrave Pivot

Book Chapter - Palgrave Pivot

A History of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540

| 2018

This chapter seeks to provide an original account of the origins and purpose of resolution 1540. The account builds on the author’s experience, first-hand accounts, and interviews with former government officials, including Stephen Hadley, John Bolton, and Robert Joseph. It seeks to generate insights into the intended purpose of the resolution, its drafting, the diplomacy surrounding its passage, and the effects that this had on the text which was adopted by the Security Council. In doing so, the chapter also seeks to situate the resolution amongst other non-proliferation and counter-WMD-terrorism tools and initiatives.

Palgrave Pivot

Palgrave Pivot

Book - Palgrave Pivot

Preventing the Proliferation of WMDs: Measuring the Success of UN Security Council Resolution 1540

| 2018

This edited volume provides a fresh analysis for researcher and practitioners regarding United Nations Security Council resolution 1540, the status of its implementation, and its future by providing an original evaluation of progress in implementation and challenges faced during the resolution’s first decade. In doing so, the book will consider the resolution’s utility as a non-proliferation tool with a view to identifying what further actions are required for the objectives and goals embodied by UNSCR 1540 to be achieved and sustained.  The book progresses by exploring the history of the resolution, implementation trends, implementation from a regional perspective, challenges, and future ways forward. The book appeals to a wide readership of scholars, policymakers, and other stakeholders of the 1540 process.

Palgrave Pivot

Palgrave Pivot

Book Chapter - Palgrave Pivot

UNSCR 1540 Implementation: Challenges Past and Present

| 2018

This chapter seeks to set out the principal challenges in the implementation of resolution 1540. Using evidence from the resolutions, meeting records, Committee Chair’s briefings, and secondary sources, it argues that the challenges to implementation of the resolution have reflected both broader conceptual issues, and, more recently, practical implementation issues. The chapter begins by considering ‘broader challenges’ to the resolution’s implementation, notably those relating to political will. The second section considers challenges that are more practical in nature. The chapter will conclude with a final section looking at some opportunities that may help to overcome these challenges.

Book - Georgetown University Press

India and Nuclear Asia: Forces, Doctrine, and Dangers

| November 2018

India's nuclear profile, doctrine, and practices have evolved rapidly since the country's nuclear breakout in 1998. However, the outside world's understanding of India's doctrinal debates, forward-looking strategy, and technical developments are still two decades behind the present. India and Nuclear Asia will fill that gap in our knowledge by focusing on the post-1998 evolution of Indian nuclear thought, its arsenal, the triangular rivalry with Pakistan and China, and New Delhi's nonproliferation policy approaches. The authors show how India's nuclear trajectory has evolved in response to domestic, regional, and global drivers.

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference at the Nuclear Security Summit, April 1, 2016.

AP

Book Chapter - Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft

A New Nuclear World Order: Safety, Security and Safeguards

| March 2016

“A New Nuclear World Order: Safety, Security and Safeguards” in Die Zwischengesellschaft, written by Senior Fellow Olli Heinonen, reviews in detail measures to strengthen nuclear safety, security and safeguards to support states in developing and using nuclear energy in a safe, secure and peaceful manner.

Blog Post - Nuclear Security Matters

India’s Nuclear Security

    Author:
  • Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
| Jan. 04, 2016

Situated in a difficult neighborhood, New Delhi has laid strong emphasis on both nuclear safety and security for a couple of decades now. Almost three decades of state-sponsored terrorism and insurgencies of varying scale and proportion within India have meant that security of nuclear materials and installations has been a great worry to India’s security and atomic energy establishments. India’s concerns even predate the Western focus on WMD terrorism, which gained prominence only after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.  Unfortunately, India’s excessive caution and secrecy in the nuclear arena has led the world to assume that India does not pay much attention to this issue or that it has inadequate security, which is far from the truth.

Book Chapter - Routledge

Chinese Position on Disarmament and the Regional Security

| Dec. 22, 2015

This chapter assesses the Chinese position on the global nuclear disarmament and discusses the evolution of China's nuclear weapons strategy. Specifically focused on China's perspectives on the move toward nuclear disarmament and interim steps each side could take, and China's concerns that give rise to preconditions or conditions for deep cuts and/or abolition of nuclear weapons. Also examined is, why China's consistently maintained policies of no-first-use and minimum deterrence, the characteristics of China's nuclear strategy, and whether China would maintain its current nuclear strategy under a changing strategic dynamic in the future. Finally, it discusses the requirements of strategic stability between US and China, and the regional security dilemma.

Blog Post - Nuclear Security Matters

The Dannemora Prison Break: Lessons for Nuclear Facilities

| Sep. 09, 2015

In prisons as in nuclear facilities, employees are tasked with guarding something highly dangerous in high-stress environments. Both face high costs in the event of failure, and both are especially vulnerable to complacency and insider threats. Given these parallels, two inmates’ dramatic break-out from a New York prison in early June offers nuclear security practitioners valuable insights into how to avert an equally dramatic (and potentially much more consequential) breech.